Monday, March 19, 2012

Gorillas in the Mist by Linda S. Glaz

Gorillas in the Mist.One Flew Over the Cuckoo's NestA Fish Named WandaA Streetcar Named DesireTwister

All of these titles draw us immediately in and cause us to wonder just what the story is about. A story can be stellar, but if the title is ho-hem, your story will not get the attention you want it to have.

If you're a Motowner or Motown wannabe, Gran Torino will also hook you.

Second Hand Lions. Don't you want to know what follows?

So often we fall in love with titles that have little to do with the meat of the story; the words strung together simply sound nice for whatever reason. Are you able to let go and allow a title to grow from the story? A title is the first thing a reader sees; make yours come alive.

6 comments:

Great post! Yes, that title can be gripping and memorable, or it can fall flat. To Kill a Mockingbird is the perfect example of a title that picked up on subtleties in the story and somehow magnified them in the right way. I wonder if Twilight would've been so successful if it would've used her preferred title: "Forks."

"Forks" would just make me think it was about cutlery :) This is my weakest area. Any tips on how to create a great title? I feel like I am such a title failure, and I know how important it is. At a conference once, I pitched my book to two editors and got no response. I went home and retitled it. Got two bites the next day. So important.

The title will end up being the call of the publisher in the long run, but a good title is important to catching the eye of that acquiring editor. Much of the time I find the title comes from some critical line in the book.

I like to write down a bunch of ideas -- key words, character traits, where the book takes place, the kind of community it is, words related to the genre, the mood/tone of the book/article, etc. Then I put it aside & move on to something else, waiting for my "muse" to nudge me with the right title. It works for me.

Of course, there are also the times I know the title of the book before I even start writing it!

Once you have a few good ideas, it doesn't hurt to Google some of the titles just to make sure they're not over-done or are related to a website you'd rather not be accidentally connected to. . . .

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Joyce Hart, owner and principal agent of Hartline Literary Agency has been a literary agent for more than a decade. She was formerly the vice president of marketing of an inspirational publishing company and as the president of Hartline Marketing has nearly thirty-two years of successful experience marketing and promoting books. Joyce has been a pioneer in selling high-quality fiction to the inspirational market and has built an excellent rapport with leading inspirational publishers. A member of ACFW, and the National Association of Professional Women, Joyce is a graduate of Open Bible College, Des Moines, IA now merged with Eugene Bible College in Eugene, Oregon. Joyce is based at Hartline Literary's Pittsburgh headquarters.

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Jim Hart is looking for authors who can write unique and engaging fictional suspense, romance, women’s fiction, historical fiction and some sci-fi. Jim is also interested in non-fiction regarding church growth, Christian living, and self-help. Keep in mind that non-fiction topics require a certain level of credentials, experience and expertise. The author will need an appropriate platform to present a non-fiction proposal.

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He holds a degree in Production Journalism and worked for twenty years in direct mail advertising before taking a job with an urban social services agency, where he worked for twelve years. All during his professional career, Jim has served with the local church doing youth ministry and music/worship ministry. He is a credentialed minister with the Assemblies of God, and serves part-time as Worship Pastor in his local church in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

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